While Apple is being praised and mocked in unequal measure for launching the "bigger than bigger" iPhone 6 with a 4.7-inch display and the even bigger iPhone 6 Plus - is that a reversing beep I can hear? - Samsung has performed an about-turn of its own with the launch of the Galaxy Alpha. This
is the first Samsung smartphone I can remember using that values
attractive design ahead of spec list box-ticking. Whilst it's not the
finished article, it marks a welcome departure in an exciting new
direction for the company. It's also arguably the most balanced and comfortable-to-use premium phone Samsung has made since the Samsung Galaxy S2. Make
no mistake though - this is unknown, risky territory for Samsung.
Starting from £549.99 SIM-free, the Samsung Galaxy Alpha is priced like a
flagship phone, but it's technically out-specced by the Samsung Galaxy S5. Really,
though, this simply reframes the age-old iOS vs Android argument with
none of the platform bias - what makes a premium phone premium?
Design
Let's get the obvious comment out of the way early doors. The Samsung Galaxy Alpha looks a lot like an iPhone. While it's clearly been released to pre-empt the launch of the iPhone 6, though, the Alpha's design is pure iPhone 4.
It's got a very familiar flat-edged aluminium rim with that same
nick-inviting chamfered edge. Even the machined speaker grid on the
bottom edge is reminiscent of Apple's seminal phone. In appearance, the Alpha clearly follows the iPhone 4 - but it has subtle distinctionsOf
course, the fact that Samsung has borrowed some ideas from Apple is far
less noteworthy than the fact that it has finally adopted metal into
its design process. Given how well the company has done with its first
attempt, I have to ask: what took you so long, Samsung?This
is a lovely phone to hold. It sits in one hand delightfully. As someone
with larger-than-average hands, I can just about stretch my thumb to
each corner of the 4.7-inch display without needing the shuffle the
handset around in my hands. Decidely middle sized, the Alpha sits nicely in the handThat's
facilitated by a nice thin bezel and the Galaxy Alpha's super-thin
body. At 6.7mm, it's not the thinnest phone in the world, but it's up
there. It's also 0.2mm thinner than the similarly proportioned iPhone 6.Not the thinnest on the market, but the Alpha is still strikingly slimLike
Apple's new iPhone, Samsung has positioned the Galaxy Alpha's power
button on the top right-hand edge of the phone, so you can reach it
easily with thumb or finger. The volume rocker is on the opposite edge,
if a little higher up. Both have a satisfying click to them.The power and volume controls are easily accessibleIt's
when you look closely at these side buttons that you realise the Galaxy
Alpha's metal rim isn't quite as unoriginal as it first seems. There's a
subtle outward curve just before you reach the top and bottom edges,
which is both nice to look at and offers a useful niche to tuck your
little finger into.You know you're definitely dealing
with a Samsung phone when you turn it over - and we're not just talking
about the Samsung logo or the centrally-mounted, square-rimmed, slightly
protruding camera unit. The back of the Alpha is soft-touch polycarbonate, and it looks remarkably goodThe
Galaxy Alpha's dalliance with metal extends only to its outer rim. The
rear of the device is the same kind of soft-touch polycarbonate as we've
seen before.It's one of the least objectionable uses
for the material yet, though. Perhaps it's the fact that Samsung has
done away with that awful faux-stitching effect, or the fact that it's
framed by elegant metal rather than ugly shiny plastic. I don't know,
but in this case Samsung's use of plastic is as notable and restrained
as its use of metal.The decision not to opt for an
all-metal body has led to a number of other benefits. It makes the Alpha
easy to grip and handle, it allows for a removable battery, and it
makes the phone remarkably light. Easy access to the battery is a benefit of the detachable backAt 115 grams, it's 14 grams lighter than the iPhone 6. In fact, it's only 3 grams heavier than the 4-inch iPhone 5S. No, it doesn't quite feel as premium as either, but it's nowhere near as far off as Samsung's earlier efforts.And
this introduces one of the most contentious specs of the Samsung Galaxy
Alpha - its display. As I've already mentioned, this is a 4.7-inch
screen, which kind of bucks the trend for recent high-end Android
devices. The HTC One M8, the Google Nexus 5, the Sony Xperia Z2, and yes, the Samsung Galaxy S5, have all busted through the 5-inch barrier.Indeed, the Alpha feels like a blast from the past, going back to the time of the Nexus 4, the HTC One X, and the Samsung Galaxy S3. More pertinently, and as already discussed, this is the size adopted by Apple for its iPhone 6. The Alpha's 720p Super AMOLED display is bright and clear at these dimensionsThe
result is that you'll probably find the Galaxy Alpha either slightly
smaller or slightly bigger than you're used to. My view? Like Goldilocks
and the middle-sized bed, this one feels just right. It offers a clear
view of HD video, games and most web pages without sacrificing
portability or one-handed usability.Perhaps even more contentious is the Samsung Galaxy Alpha's display resolution. It's only ("only") 720p.Complaints
about this lower resolution are valid - particularly given the Galaxy
Alpha's premium price - but only up to a point. Yes, other Android
phones have hit the considerably sharper 1080p resolution standard in
recent times, but the vast majority of these have been larger 5-inch
displays. In fact, if we're talking mainstream phones, only 2013's HTC One M7 really springs to mind as offering a 4.7-inch 1080p display. In
a sub-5-inch screen like this one, 720p feels perfectly adequate.
That's not to say that you definitely won't notice the difference in
sharpness between the Galaxy Alpha and (for example) the Galaxy S5. But
as it is, using the phone in isolation, the Alpha's display is plenty
sharp enough. Indeed, with Samsung's expert - and still
relatively unique - use of Super AMOLED technology, the Galaxy Alpha's
picture positively pops from the screen. Colours are rich and contrast
levels are exemplary, while you won't be experiencing inky blacks of
this kind on any LCD panel. It still lends some icons and
images a slightly false, gaudy appearance, but once you're attuned to
it (or once you've tuned it to your liking) other displays can look a
little drab by comparison. Performance and battery
Another reason the Samsung Galaxy Alpha is so pleasant to
use, and probably why I'm finding the TouchWiz UI so easy to live with,
is that everything simply flies on it. This is one
speedy, responsive smartphone. Navigating through the Android menus is
super smooth, with nary a glimmer of a stutter. Besides
Samsung's software optimisation, that's partly thanks to the speedy
Exynos 5 Octa SoC that's running most versions of the phone. Samsung's
own chip, which switches between four low-power processor cores for
light tasks and four supercharged ones for heavier tasks, is quite the
performer. What's more, with fewer pixels to push around
than, say, the Samsung Galaxy S5, there are even more processor
resources free at any one time. That's born out with our usual GeekBench
3 benchmark test. In benchmark tests, the Alpha just outperformed the S5An
average multi-core score of 3,132 pitches the Alpha's performance level
slightly ahead of the Galaxy S5, which managed 2,909 in our test.There still aren't enough top-performing compact phones like the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact for my liking. Here's another to add to add to that tiny pile.
Battery
For
a phone that favours a slim, compact design above all else, battery
life was always going to be a concern. Indeed, the Samsung Galaxy
Alpha's 1,860mAh battery seems a little slight by modern standards.
Compare it to the Galaxy S5 and its 2,800mAh battery, and it looks
alarmingly small - regardless of its less demanding display. Sure
enough, the Alpha only just lasted through a full day of moderate
usage, and required a nightly charge. Introduce a little gaming and HD
video watching, and the percentage plummeted. Power saving mode is so severe, it won't even allow you to take a screengrabOf
course, that in itself is not unusual for a modern high-end smartphone.
Our regular battery test, which involves running a 90 minute 720p video
with the display cranked up to full brightness, left 84 percent left in
the tank, which isn't bad by any means.That's the same level of performance as the Galaxy S5 and the iPhone 5S, and is well ahead of the HTC One M8.This
being a Samsung phone, you also get the benefits of Ultra power saving
mode. This is way more extreme than your average power saving mode,
switching the display to greyscale, providing a simplified homescreen,
restricting app usage to the bare essentials, cutting mobile data when
the screen turns off, and limiting connectivity. It's so bare bones that it wouldn't even let me take a screen grab for this section. The
result, though, is that your usage time will increase dramatically. I
sat and watched as the stated battery percentage ticked up by 10
percent, such is the mode's miraculous restorative power. It's perfect
for those emergency situations when you're low on juice and far way from
a charger, though at this point it's worth remembering that your £550
smartphone is essentially less useful than a 10-year-old feature phone. Camera
It might seem as if Samsung has compromised with the Samsung
Galaxy Alpha's 12-megapixel camera. After all, the Samsung Galaxy S5
has a 16-megapixel example. That may well be the case,
but the Galaxy Alpha still turns out some truly excellent images. Just
as importantly, it's a joy to handle. Not only is it fast to focus and
snap, but you don't have to work hard or fiddle with settings to get
decent results either - just point and shoot. The camera is a joy to useOf
course, when you do delve into the Alpha's camera settings, you'll find
plenty to play with. Ever-present on the main camera interface is a
toggle for an accomplished HDR mode, for those high-contrast or shady
images. You also get a selective focus mode that accentuates a close-up
(50cm or less) object by blurring out the background.The
mode even lets you switch between focusing on the foreground or
background after the picture has been taken. In truth, you can get a
decent enough depth of focus effect in general use without needing to
switch to this artificial method, which takes a little too much framing
and a considerable amount of time to process. That's more a testament to
the Alpha's fine camera than it is a criticism of a gimmicky mode,
though. Elsewhere you get the same extras as the Galaxy
S5 and others in the Samsung range, including Beauty face (for smoothing
off those wrinkles and spots) and a streamlined Shot & more mode.
The latter is where you can apply various effects and post-processing
options such as Best photo, Best face, erasing unwanted objects and
merging multiple shots into an action photo. The cleaned-up camera app is intuitive to useAs
with elsewhere in its TouchWiz UI, Samsung has cleaned up and
simplified its camera UI significantly to the point where it's actually
quite intuitive to use.As noted above, you also get 4K
video recording here, which provides footage with four times the pixel
count of 1080p Full HD. The Galaxy Alpha handles this without batting an
eyelid, although you lose the ability to do extra things like taking
still snaps while you're recording, so Samsung has understandably stuck
with the more flexible 1080p mode as the default. Sample images Depth of field effects are decent even without selective focus modeClick here for the full res image Landscape pictures reveal natural colours and decent detail levelsClick here for the full res image Macro shots reveal plenty of detailClick here for the full res image Focus mode makes close-ups even more pronounced - sometimes artificially soClick here for the full res image Even in low light, it's possible to get some decent resultsClick here for the full res image This image shows the Alpha's results with HDR offClick here for the full res image And this is the result with HDR oneClick here for the full res image The Competition
iPhone 6
Samsung is clearly targeting the iPhone 6 with the AlphaThe iPhone 6
is clearly the smartphone Samsung had in mind when it launched the
Samsung Galaxy Alpha. It's got the same-sized 4.7-inch display, a
similarly slim metal-heavy design and a similar price point.Samsung
has the slight edge on size and weight, but the iPhone 6 retains
Apple's premium design edge with its all-metal construction. We'd also
take Apple's classy iOS 8 software over Samsung's slightly clunky
TouchWiz UI any day. After our full review of the iPhone,
it's definitely the superior phone in myriad ways, but this is
Samsung's most focused attempt at taking on Apple directly in a single
premium handset yet.
Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
The Xperia Z3 Compact isn't as handsome as the Alpha, but it is water and dustproofThe Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
wasn't out at the time of writing this review. After Apple's new
handset, though, it's clearly the most direct rival to the Galaxy Alpha.It's
got a similar 4.6-inch 720p display, and a similarly high-end
Snapdragon 801 CPU powering it. In the Sony Xperia 3 Compact's favour it
has a tasty-looking 20.3-megapixel camera. One thing the
Xperia Z3 doesn't have is a classy metal design, but on the flip side
its tough plastic shell means that it's dust and water resistant. The
Galaxy Alpha certainly isn't.
HTC One M7
It's a looker, but the M7 can't match the Alpha on specsYou can't talk about premium metal Android phones without mentioning one of HTC's recent efforts. While the HTC One M8 is the most recent and impressive effort, however, I feel that last year's HTC One M7 - which is still being sold as new by HTC - is a more apt Galaxy Alpha competitor.After
all, it too has a premium metal design and a 4.7-inch display. In fact,
the HTC One M7 arguably has the superior examples of both. Its body is
ALL metal, and distinctive to boot (no raiding of the Apple design book
here). Meanwhile the One M7's display has a much higher
1080p resolution, not to mention a sub-£400 price tag for those prepared
to shop around. Of course, last year's HTC flagship also
has an older, less capable Snapdragon 600 CPU, which means it's not as
good a performer as the Alpha, nor is it as future-proof. Its
4-megapixel UltraPixel camera isn't as good an all-round snapper as the
Alpha's 12-megapixel unit, either.
Verdict
It's taken a while, but Samsung has finally come up with a
premium metal design for one of its phones - and it's pretty darned good
for a first attempt. True, the company has sacrificed a little of its
box-ticking cutting edge allure in the process, but the result is the
most balanced and pleasant-to-use handset in the range.
We liked
While
it borrows liberally from the Apple design playbook, the Samsung Galaxy
Alpha still feels like a notable progression for the company - and it
still feels like a Samsung phone. Just a particularly classy one. In
scaling back to a 4.7-inch display, and framing it in a super-slim
chassis, the Alpha takes its place as the nicest Samsung phone to wield -
particularly in one hand. Indeed, the Galaxy Alpha is brilliant in day-to-day use thanks to blazing performance and an accomplished 12-megapixel camera.
We disliked
While
Samsung's TouchWiz UI is the leanest it's ever been, it's still a
glaring weak point when you compare it to rival efforts. It should be
next on the list for a radical overhaul by Samsung's designers. Meanwhile,
Samsung has evidently had to make certain compromises to facilitate
that slim, premium design. One takes the form of a slightly
less-than-premium 720p display. So-so battery life is the other notable
downside to such a slinky handset design. These
shortfalls make the Samsung Galaxy Alpha's premium price point feel very
steep - or at least it does if you don't value high-end external design
as highly as cutting edge internal technology. It's a lot, lot more
expensive than the S5, which has a much more impressive spec list.
Verdict
Samsung
has created a truly desirable smartphone for the first time in... well,
ever. Those who were fine with Samsung's plastic-heavy approach in the
past may frown at perceived compromises in the Galaxy Alpha's spec list,
but I'd encourage you to hold one in your hand before making any snap
judgements. This is a phone that's pleasant to use in a
variety of situations, thanks to its lightweight design, just-right
size, and impressively swift performance. I'd have liked a
1080p display and stronger battery life, and ultimately Samsung's
software design is holding the Alpha back from being a true iPhone 6
toppled. But this is a solid first step on a bold new path for Samsung -
it's just hard to understand why on earth it's so expensive. source:-Samsung Galaxy Alpha review
